India-Canada row: India on Saturday rejected allegations levelled against Union Home Minister Amit Shah by the Canadian minister as ‘absurd' and ‘baseless’ amid deteriorating bilateral ties between the two countries.
Addressing to media during a weekly press briefing, Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said that such irresponsible actions will have serious consequences for bilateral ties, and acknowledged that India summoned the representative of the Canadian High Commission on November 1.
David Morrison, the Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister of Canada, on Tuesday alleged that Shah ordered a campaign of violence, intimidation and intelligence-gathering targeting Sikh separatists inside Canada.
The allegations were first reported by an international daily after Morrison confirmed Shah's name. He also told the Canadian Parliament members of the national security committee about confirming Shah's name.
“Regarding the latest Canadian target, we summoned the representative of the Canadian High Commission yesterday. It was conveyed in the note that the Government of India protests in the strongest terms to the absurd and baseless references made to the Union Home Minister of India before the Committee by Deputy Minister David Morrison,” said Jaiswal.
The MEA spokesperson further stated that that the revelation that high Canadian officials deliberately leak unfounded insinuations to the international media as part of a conscious strategy to discredit India and influence other nations only confirms the view that the government of India has long held about the current Canadian government's political agenda and behavioural pattern.
We have seen some reports in this regard. It is unfortunate that the prevailing atmosphere in Canada has reached high levels of intolerance and extremism.
We are monitoring the well-being of our students and professionals who are working in Canada. Our concern for their safety and security remains strong.
A year ago, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said that Canada had credible evidence that agents of the Indian government were involved in the murder of Khalistani terrorists Hardeep Singh Nijjar.
The allegations were dismissed by the Indian government.
However, recently, Justin Trudeau admitted that Canada had no evidence against India regarding Nijjar killing.
“And at that point it was primarily intelligence, not hard evidentiary proof. So we said let's work together and look into the situation,” said Trudeau.
